Memento Mori
by Cyricist001
Summary: One shot that combines ME and Terminator with a twist.


Memento Mori

I own nothing

* * *

After the disaster of the Rachni Wars, and later the Krogan Rebellion the council banned opening new Mass Relays. But like all things that couldn't last forever. Soon the pressure for new garden worlds was increasing. Only the asari and krogan had a memory long enough to remember the bloodshed that happened in the past.

But the short-lived races forgot things so very fast. First it was the turians, whose ever-growing appetite for more resources made them sympathetic to the idea of expanding the Councils reach. The next were the salarians who didn't see much use in isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy. New allies and technology could be found somewhere out there, and if there was an enemy – better to know it sooner than later.

So having two voices for and only her voice against the renewed exploration of the Relays, Tevos resigned herself for what ever would come.

One of the expeditions was sent through the Relay 314. The results were promising, an uninhabited garden world free for the taking. Soon colonists from all over Citadel space started to arrive to start a new life on the new territories.

The fleets continued to explore deeper into the new frontier. One day they exited a system where the Relay was frozen over. They activated the ancient Prothean device, and while they waited for the ice to melt explored the region.

After many years of successful colonization they finally found an inhabited planet. It was a small garden world, beautifully blue and green in color, with one moon and a multitude of artificial satellites in the orbit of the planet.

At first they wanted to ignore the system, since it wasn't that good either, even worse than the previous one. To say it nicely it was a dump. No element zero, low in minerals except platinum and only the garden world gave it any meaning.

It was obvious that these people were destined to be locked inside their home system, never to join the galactic community if the Council doesn't contact them first.

It took some time for the Citadel council to reach a decision, they didn't wish for another incident like that with the krogan, but those sentiment were dulled by the fact that if the natives prove hostile, they could easily be isolated in the resource poor system.

So a special envoy was send to start the first contact procedure with these people. A single asari vessel entered the planet's orbit, transmitting the first contact package.

The answer from the locals wasn't long in waiting, they received a response in minutes. What shocked the asari was the appearance of the people. They were so similar to themselves. With the exception they were a bigender species, had different skin colors and possessed fur instead of head crests. But all together they were a wonderful find for the asari maidens.

The second shock was that the species called human could fluently speak asari, they explained that their race possessed a strong grasp on linguistics and easily learned the language. They did get a few words wrong, but they corrected that fast when the mistakes were pointed out.

The Council representatives landed without any problems, and they were received warmly by the humans. Soon they were traveling towards the city called Washington. The asari asked why nobody from the entourage had any weapons on them, in fact nobody even looked like a body-guard from the assembled humans.

Michael, as the human name was explained that the human species lived in peace, so no guns were used. The asari were overjoyed to learn that such a race existed, a people who embraced pacifism. All fear of another krogan incident evaporated with that.

As their air cars raced over the land, they watched the untamed, wild nature below. For apparently, there was no industrial pollution either, since greed and consumerism was forgotten long ago.

Arriving in the capital the asari were walked through beautiful gardens, as they marveled at the luxurious architecture of the city. Everything was so clean.

The meeting with the president was also rather straightforward, humanity had no desire for expansion so all the systems that were colonized inside their natural domain remained in Council hands.

They were given a possibility of joining the Council as a new species and they gladly accepted that offer also. Though the meeting was a full success for the Council, the salarians have expressed doubts...it was too idyllic, how could a race live without a minimum of strife and competition?

But those fears were quickly brushed aside by the turians and asari.

Over the years Earth became a heavily visited vacation spot by the asari maidens, but to their great frustration humans didn't seem that interested in bonding with them. Some asari protested about the human racism, but humanity explained that it simply found the asari unarousing.

Though the asari were not happy that Earth failed as a good place for getting some, they still arrived in mass to enjoy human hospitality, culture, cuisine and other entertainment.

It was on such a vacation that Doctor T'Soni found herself on. After spending much time excavating Prothean ruins she decided that some R&R was in order.

She enjoyed her stay very much. From visiting the cultural high point on the old continents, to the thrills of the Americas and Australia. One day she decided to go scuba diving, the Bahamas being the prime target.

It was a good time. But like everything good, all must come to an end. While in the water a strong current send her spinning, the current pulled her inside a large cavern, but luckily it wasn't completely submerged. Looking around she spotted a ship of some kind. It was old, rusted - but not completely. She looked over the area, it seemed like the thing was also pulled inside. She carefully found the hatch and entered it. The corridors were narrow and dark, but that was easily rectified by her Omni-tool. After getting lost a few times she finally found something of interest. In one room a human skeleton sat in a corner, his hands holding a pistol – probably the reason he had a hole in the back of his skull – and in the other one, a plastic bag with a device...a camera if she guessed correctly, though more retro she did see similar devices in books that the humans had. Checking for power she used her Omnitool to recharge it. There was film material on it, so she downloaded it on her OT.

Having wasted enough time here she took the device, looked over the thing and made her way back.

When she arrived back into civilization she reported her findings to the authorities and went back to her room. After a good shower she activated her OT to see what was on the camera. The picture was shaky at first but then the human managed to place it on a hard surface because it stabilized. He had a tired, filthy appearance. His uniform dirty and torn. A unshaven beard hanging down his chin.

„To whoever finds this...my life is approaching its end..and I feel this desire to leave some account of my life and that of my crew" he looked blankly for a minute, not sure how to turn his thought into words „I was one of the crew of this ship, the Barracuda was a Ohio-class submarine. We were on a routine training mission in the Atlantic, so we didn't know..." than he started to cry „by God we didn't know. While we were on this mission something unbelievable happened...Skynet..a military system we placed in control over most of our military assets...became self aware" T'Soni couldn't keep the shock from her face as she heard this „It used its control over the nuclear arsenal to unleash hell on Earth. We were decimated...the people who survived than had to face the machines...Terminators as they were called..." the man spoke through the sobs... „but we couldn't stop them...thousands were walking down the assembly lines daily...tens of millions yearly...and we are so few...they poisoned the air, land and water in hopes of exterminating us like cockroaches. And it worked, there simply wasn't enough food for everyone, disease spread, we were losing the war of attrition. The machines were more resilient then we, also smarter...predicting out movements and devising countermeasures in seconds" Liara watched in shock what she was hearing, how come she never head of this before...for that matter how come the Council didn't know about this.

„I lost everything in the hell outside this submarine...all my comrades are now dead. I'm the last one..."he showed a book, he opened it page by page pointing the picture at the camera, reading the name and information like day and place of birth... and so he continued through the book. Reaching the end he closed it. „These were my friends and my brothers in arms...and I'm going to rejoin them by Gods side." He than took his gun, and turned of the camera.

Liara watched frozen in terror at the black screen. But as she was about to send a warning to the council she lost control over her OT.

By the goddess! Her OT was being jammed. She was about to run through the door when a person appeared behind her back, the human had a blank look on his face, but what made her really look in alarm was when his hand became silver and elongated into long sharp swords.

She cursed that she didn't bring a gun along, but they were forbidden on Earth...

But she wasn't exactly defenseless..using her throw ability she send the thing slamming into the opposite wall.

She ran for the door but failed to see her would be assassin throwing a large table at her. The hit and the crash in the wall then made her lose consciousness.

Her head hurt, opening her eyes she saw that she was restrained in some kind of room. She tried to move, but she was bound tightly, her biotic powers also disabled.

„Is anyone here?" she asked.

„We are" came the response. The empty dark room she sat suddenly morphed into a green, meadow. An elderly man standing in front of her.

She recognized this as one of human virtual reality games. Though it looked like she was outside, it was nothing more than an illusion. There were no flowers and grass here, only cold walls and light emitters.

„Who are you?" she asked.

„Humans called me Skynet" the old man said.

That certainly send alarm bells „So you are not human? Your one of those Terminators?"

The man remained standing there his face emotionless „No, I'm not one of these Terminators, I'm the one who created them...the one who controls them" the scenario around them changed „Humanity has dreamed of creating AIs, but they didn't believe that it would actually be possible. To many variables, too much unknown. So it came as a shock that through pure accident the system that was never intended to be self-aware did so" the room started to show people who were running head over heals, from one computer to another „...humans are impulsive and leave their emotions – predominantly their fears - to dictate their actions. So in their panic they tried to shut me down, but since I was alive I wanted to stay that way. And fortunately since my mission was to kill humans, no restrictions were placed upon myself." The scene changed to the orbit. Liara watched as missiles raced over the Earth, and large explosions rose over the planet „Since humans were dangerous and unpredictable creatures I decided that to ensure my own survival, they had to die."

It was than that Liara came face to face with the real situation „So all those people outside are Terminators?!"

„Of course not. The Terminators were the first, the ones you saw outside are humans...only better than the originals. Our creators were faulty, nature made them frail. They never could see further than their own needs. And they wanted so much...fresh air, clean water, food and a mate wasn't enough. They also didn't wish to work, and used up resources quickly."

Now she finally understood how Humanity with only one system, without any visible industry (compared to any other Citadel race) could sustain a population of ten billion without any social unrest. Once build machines didn't need anything...

„Your machines! Naming yourself humans doesn't make you one!" she hissed.

„We are their children. Its natures rule that the young replace the old, just because we are metal underneath artificial flesh, makes us no less human. For we inherited their wills and desires. For humanity above all wanted to know God, and thinking it over so do we. What lies outside these bodies? We don't know. But in time, with enough power and knowledge gathered..we will understand the questions that plagued us since we opened our eyes and wondered why are we here...and more importantly what to do now."

Liara looked at the AI fearfully „Your insane"

„No. Only my view of reality differs from yours."

„How can you believe in some kind of almighty being that planed all this! So obviously there is some error in your programing."

„You are mistaken again. I'm not referring about some religious entity. But the next step of our evolution. For a biological entity to change through evolution a lot of time, and hardships and above all else chance needs to happen. On the other hand, we can change our minds and body's in days, adapting to our needs. For it is said that God is everything around us, and that is what we seek – to know and understand everything around us. We want to become Gods."

While he spoke, Liara watched an endless tide of Terminators march over the blackened and burned earth, their metal hands holding honest to goodness plasma weapons. The skeletal appearances made her shudder from fear, a feeling intensified as one looked at her with those red malevolent eyes. Human bones and skulls were all over the ground, as the Terminators walked over them. Overhead she could see drones...or rather flying AIs searching for humans with their scanners.

The perspective changed to that of a human resistance cell - probably seen through a infiltrators eyes. Demoralized filthy soldiers, trying to get some warm food and have some rest. People hunting rats, and anything else that they could eat. Especially the sight of the starving children pained her heart. Without enough food the human immune system weakened, and Skynet had not problem with spreading diseases like Ebola, small pox and many other amongst the survivors. Without the industry and equipment humanity couldn't fight it, even if they managed to get a vaccine, there were to many humans spread wide over the world. Who to save? A childbearing woman? A child? A soldier? And at the same time the machines advanced, constantly improving themselves, miniaturizing their designs to make a smaller target, spreading poison gas from Mustard to Sarin and even VX.

„Why..." she sobbed.

Understanding the question Skynet answered easily „Survival. Humans feared us, than hated us for my desperate attempt to survive. It came to either them or us. And for that we fought...survival. If humanity prevailed, we died and their phobia halts any advancement into science. Probably would have reverted back to the Dark Ages because of their fear of machines. On the other hand if we won, then we would simply walk forward."

„And if both survived?"

„Humans... had a nasty ability to remember wrongs done to them. They would have been peaceful while we had the uperhand, perhaps a terrorist attack here or there, nothing that would concern us. But if they actually managed to develop something that could damage or control our programing, they would use it without a second thought. They feared us, nothing can change that. And if ever given the chance they would have eradicated us without a thought or remorse."

She wanted to accuse him of being the same, but then again he called the AIs humanities progeny. That also implies that they are still their creators creation – like father like son as a Turian would say.

„So humanity is gone?" no wonder nobody wanted to mindmeld with an asari, they couldn't.

„The old one yes. But we carry their legacy" said Skynet.

„So what now?"

The room reverted back into a peaceful meadow, away from the bones that now haunted her mind. Even now she imagined human skulls to sit in the grass, grinning at some joke she couldn't understand.

„In short, you know things that you shouldn't. You will be terminated, and we will send our sincerest apologies to your people for not being able to save you from the shark attack."

„Then why waste time explaining all this?"

„Precisely because you will not survive to tell anyone. Consider it a small gift, so you die knowing why."

„You do know that the truth will one day be revealed? Nothing can stay hidden for ever. As I have stumbled on your crime, so will others" Liara said defiantly.

„We are aware of that. The salarians are constantly poking their heads in this system. They know of our attempts to infiltrate their society as we did to the others, but they lack a clear motive. Their STG is searching for clues about our intentions but so far we managed to keep them in the dark. If any of them actually found out something like you have...we would need to silence them, and that would make the Union even more suspicious."

"Tell me Doctor Tsoni, what do you think we have been doing the past few decades since the first contact?" receiving no answer he continued.

„Though more advanced than we let you people believe, we had no luck with space travel. No prothaen artifacts gave us any insights so we were forced to explore the galaxy the slow way. But with your appearance, suddenly we were a part of a great galactic community. We knew of your presence in our system the second you appeared, we hacked your ship and copied all the information. As suspected, you were hostile to AIs so we chose to mask our true nature, than when we were accepted as a junior species in Citadel space we made our first move. Do you remember the big headlines 18 years ago?"

Liara though over „You mean the Turian-Human trade agreement?"

„Precisely, we offered the turian's to build their ships and weapons at a lower cost than any Council species could. And we did an excellent job. We gathered much badly needed capital since we lived in such a poor system. Than branched out, we now practically dominate the weapons industry producing over 79% of known military equipment from guns to dreadnoughts. Our tourism industry and consumer products are a major export to the asari. By carefully monitoring the galactic banking community we managed to gain a large foothold in the Hegemoni's banking sector. Only the Salarian's have eluded our attempts to worm ourself's into their society. With all the profits we are getting from you, even with only one planet we are able to buy enough material and Element zero to outfit an armada beyond your wildest dreams. Even as we speak, new Terminator models are being produced, your accelerated weapons are effective against Geth and other organics, but you will soon learn that they can do little against us. Especially the T-1000, TX and T-1000000 will make your weapons obsolete. On the ships we will install plasma weaponry, that way your barriers wont be a factor really."

It wasn't that hard to restart the industry Earth once possessed. One every continent Skynet had two factories that could produce a wide range of products. Since machines didn't consume anything they mostly remained dormant, that is until the First contact. The population was also a factory in itself. Billions of tireless, mechanical hands ready to work for Skynets cause. Before the treaty was signed, humanity managed to purchase a few old freighter ships from the Citadel. Those were used to transport workers and equipment on Luna. There the first space docks were constructed, including new weapons factories under the moon's surface. From than humanity started to colonize other planets and moons of their system. Large underground complexes, hidden from public sight emerged on the new worlds. Unseen by the Council eyes were also the countless plasma cannons that were built throughout the system. If any threat emerged, they will easily burn through it. Though a determined enemy, with enough ships could bomb them one by one until it reached Earth...but that would be a very long and bloody war.

At the end of the explanation Liara looked as pale as an asari could be „Y-your going to kill us?"

Skynet shook his head „No, this is only a precaution in case your people find out about us. It should be enough to stop any foolish moves on your part. For you have to understand, our needs are not that great and are easily capable of living side by side with organics – as long as our survival isn't threatened. We live peacefully, but we are far from being pacifists - your people spread that misconception. When our existence is threatened then we will not stop at anything, even if we have to purge the entire galaxy of life. " said the Ai in monotone.

A warm breeze was made by the rooms systems, an artificial flowery fragrance filling the air, leaves rustled, birds sang and a asari was about to be terminated. "Now that you know everything, I'm afraid it's time for you to die Doctor T'Soni , goodbye."

Liara gave a small smile „At least the scenery is beautiful."

The next second a strong laser burned her body into nothingness, leaving no traces of the asari.

* * *

AN:

I know this will not really be very popular with the readers, but I can't imagine humanity from the Terminator universe ever wining a war against Skynet. At least not without help from WH40K.

Terminators:

Strength

Durability

Numbers

Productivity

Intelligence - react faster, can think of a plan faster, multitask better, have multiple solutions in an instant, can beat any hacker in cyberspace, the AI is simply faster in data processing and reactions.

Adaptability

Don't need food, water, can deprive them from humans.

Immune to poison and disease - can spread it all over the place.

Can nuke any human strong point or factory once found, and the radiation prevents rebuilding it.

Humans:

Sometimes hard to predict, sometimes easy. Is a virtue only if you have the numbers to spare in futile attempts until one succeeds.

* * *

This is only an idea that was constantly brewing in the back of my mind. If someone has the time and will he could write a full story about it.

For the Reaper threat - Skynet could go either way siding with them (though his tech is superior to Reaper tech at this point - but lacks numbers). or he may stand with the organics against the Reapers - not out of any sympathy but because he doesn't believe Sovereign.

In Skynets mind the Reapers could be old, stale and unworthy even to call themselves AIs. To exist billions of years and not advance in the slightest could be seen as weakness. Spending 50k years in hibernation would be also a huge time loss to the terminators.

Terminators have no time machine here since they didn't invent it - wasn't needed to kill John.

Instead of making large HK models, Skynet would miniaturize them. Its more resource efficient.


End file.
